CSA Produce Box for this week

Farm Joke: Why did the chicken cross the road? To eat the cabbage loopers and potato leaf beatles on the other side. (How is that for Integrated Pest Management?)

This week's box contains: lettuces (leaf and Romaine), green onions, beets, spinach, Daikon radish, strawberries, carrots, and broccoli.

Wow, it rained a little shower two days ago and the garden grew like crazy! That coupled with the heat last week has made the lettuce absolutely have to be picked. So, the kids have lettuce everywhere. Eat lots of salads this week. Eat them for lunch and dinner. We try to wash the heads of lettuce well but I am sure that there is still some dirt on them as it was very wet in the garden when we were harvesting late yesterday afternoon. You will be getting some Romaine lettuce also. This is great for grilling serving with a chunky blue cheese or creamy ranch dressing. Also, you can add some Rainbow Meadow Farms Applewood Smoked Berkshire bacon to the romaine salad. Here is a recipe that I got offline and use at home. http://www.recipezaar.com/Grilled-Romaine-Salad-351285

You are also getting some more spinach. It is so versatile and very nutritious. I made an easy recipe this week. It is from the African country of Mali.

Ground Nut and Spinach Stew

4 skinless/boneless chicken thighs

1 onion, chopped
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
2TBSP creamy peanut butter
1 lb Spinach chopped
1 tomato chopped
1/4 cup Tomato paste
1/4 tsp Ground Red Pepper
Salt and Pepper to Taste

I sauteed the chicken thighs, chopped them into pieces and then set aside. I then sauteed the onion and chopped peanuts for about 3 minutes until the onion was soft. Then I added the chopped tomato, tomato paste, peanut butter, red pepper, salt and black pepper. I cooked this over medium heat for about 5 minutes, then began adding the chopped spinach and letting it cook down until all had been added. Add the chopped chicken and then reduce the heat to simmer, put a lid on the pan and cooked it for 30 minutes. When finished cooking, serve over rice.

The family really liked it. We are trying out recipes from different parts of the world. Alena also recommends making borscht with the beets in your box if you get the chance. You can make either hot or cold versions. You should have enough for a small batch of borscht. As many of you know Hardy and Alena(my oldest two children) are both Ukrainian/American. They came to the US when they were two years old. Alena loves making Borscht with me.
You also have broccoli (the first of our small batch of broccoli. Having never grown it before, I was jubious as to how it would turn out. They did right well. Hardy suggests broccoli and cheese, his favorite vegetable.
Lastly, the new item that we need to discuss is Daikon radish. Some of you may not know what to do with them. They are more mild and sweet than the traditional red (salad type) radishes. Did you know that a serving of Daikon contains about 1/3 of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C? It is also great for detoxifying your liver. Daikon radish can be simmered, stir fried, grated, pickled or baked. Its leaves are also edible and can be used in recipes that call for turnip greens. Here are a couple of good recipes: http://www.grouprecipes.com/22277/roasted-daikon-radishes.html or you can simply scrub the outside, grate like a carrot and then add to tempura sauce. You can also grate it and serve with soy sauce over rice. Sauteed beef or chicken would be nice with this.
We do have garden peas growing. With this rain, they should be coming off next week. Finally, check out our blog, http://rainbowmeadowfarms.blogspot.com/ for the May specials. We will have our first beef from the steers on Thursday. We will be at the Uptown Market in Greenville today from 5-8pm. We hope that the rain holds off and it is a very nice afternoon there. If you are from Greenville, we hope to see you there. Hope you enjoy this week's bounty.

Genell, Hardy, Alena, Jeffrey and all the Rainbow Meadow Farms family